With the finalizing of Disney’s acquisition of Fox expected around the end of January and the release of Fox’s last chapter in their X-Men saga, “Dark Phoenix” this year, Marvel is set to reboot the franchise with a new cast of actors and mutants.

The comic book company has no choice but to reboot the X-Men franchise to bring the team to the screen beside The Avengers in the present day. “Dark Phoenix” is set in the 1990s and Fox killed Wolverine in 2017 in “Logan.”

With the reboot of X-Men comes the debate of which mutants should be in the movie and who should play them. The overwhelming feeling among fans is that the first film should echo the original cartoon series’ cast and costumes. The original cast included Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Gambit and the Mississippi-born Rogue. The series also featured the mostly useless Jubilee who has been played by three different actresses already in the Fox films and need not be (re)cast again.

Three Mississippi-born actresses who could play Rogue:

Rogue hails from the fictional Mississippi county of Caldecott. The character was played by Anna Paquin in Fox’s continuity and was last seen in 2014 in “Days of Future Past.” Paquin was born in Canada and grew up in New Zealand. Just as it is important to cast a southern African actress to play the Kenyan-born Storm, it’s important that Rogue be an actress from the American South, ideally from Mississippi.

The character Rogue as conceived by its original artist, Michael Golden.(Photo11: Special to the Clarion-Ledger)

Lacey Chabert — Chabert, 36, would appear to be the frontrunner for this role. Born in Hattiesburg, she is known for her roles in “Party of Five,” “Lost in Space,” “Black Christmas” and “Mean Girls” and for her status as the “queen of Hallmark movies”

Candice Patton — Patton, 30, was born in Jackson, Mississippi but raised in Texas. She is best known for her role as Iris West in Warner Bros. DC television series “The Flash.” Playing Rogue would be a defection for the DC actress.

Allie Grant — Grant, 24, was born in Tupelo and is known for her roles in “The Goldbergs” and “Weeds.” At 24 years old she would be pushing the limit on the age gap in a romantic relationship with the expected actor in the role of Gambit, the 38 year old Channing Tatum (a 14 year gap didn’t stop Paquin and Hugh Jackman in the first X-Men film).

The other X-Men:

Gambit — Channing Tatum, 38, has been chasing the role of the New Orleans-born Gambit for years. Tatum was born in Alabama and moved to Mississippi where he lived in Pascagoula and Gautier before his family moved again to Florida.

Scott Summers/Cyclops — Scott Eastwood, 32, the son of the Western icon with the same last name is an action star time bomb waiting to explode. He brings the muscle and that Eastwood smile to the role — he is going to need the latter because his eyes will be covered the whole movie.

Jean Grey — Rachel Brosnahan, 28, has earned a Primetime Emmy and SAG nomination for her part in “House of Cards” and a Primetime Emmy win and two Golden Globe wins for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Beast — Nonso Anozie, 39, is a British-Nigerian actor who stands 6’6’’. He would bring a physical presence to the blue, fur-covered mutant that is comic-accurate, towering over the other X-Men.

Wolverine — Keanu Reeves, 54, has publicly put his name out there for what will be the biggest franchise character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Reeves has spent decades doing action films and learning to do choreographed fights. It would seem that if he wants it, no one in Hollywood could challenge him for it.

Professor X — Denzel Washington, 64, would be a race swap for the bald, wheelchair-bound telepath. Washington formerly played Malcolm X who the antagonist of Charles Xavier, Magneto has been compared to for years. Professor X has been read for generations as the Martin Luther King Jr. to Magneto’s Malcolm X in the battle for mutant rights. It would be a welcome change for the brainchild of the X-Men to be a black American; bringing this character closer to his subtext.

Magneto — Jason Isaacs, 55, is a British actor of Jewish descent, clearly too young to have been present during the Holocaust which plays a significant part in Magneto’s origin story and the birth of his own hate. To cast a middle age actor for Magneto, the character’s tragic story will have to be updated and relocated, possibly to Beirut and with the Nazis replaced by PLO terrorists in the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990).